Apollo Chamber Players to Present MOONSTRIKE, A Free, Outdoor Space-Themed Concert

On Friday, June 24 at 8:30pm CT at Houston's Miller Theatre, Apollo Chamber Players will present a free concert titled MoonStrike, celebrating the Apollo space program and NASA through multicultural new music and art inspired by American Indian moon legends, Turkish folk music, and poetry.

Emmy-winning Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate's MoonStrike headlines the program, a multidisciplinary work that explores American Indian moon legends as narrated by astronaut John Herrington, the first Native American to fly in space, and new artwork by award-winning Chickasaw artist Dustin Illetewahke Mater. MoonStrike, paired with the works of Jennifer Higdon and Pierre Jalbert, will be the title work on Apollo Chamber Players' sixth commercial album, out in summer 2022 on Azica Records.

This performance also highlights the traditional music of Turkey and Anatolia through Apollo Chamber Players commissions by Turkish-born composer Erberk Eryılmaz, including his Thracian Airs and Folk Art: Was her face the moon or sunlight, a work headed to the moon on Carnegie Mellon University's MoonArk Astrobotic lander. Renowned instrumentalist Ismail Lumanovski, the first Roma clarinetist to graduate from The Juilliard School, joins as guest artist along with percussionist Jesús Pacheco and double-bassist Molly Tutt.

Finally, Apollo honors the Irish heritage of Apollo 11 astronauts with a Samuel Beckett-inspired commission What is the Word for string quartet and electronics by Mark Wingate and Grammy-winning composer and Houston native, Christopher Theofanidis.

Performance Details

Apollo Chamber Players Present MoonStrike
Friday, June 24, 2022 at 8:30pm Central Time
Miller Outdoor Theatre in Herman Park | 6000 Hermann Park Dr. | Houston, TX
Tickets: Free, RSVP Recommended. Livestream available on the Miller Theatre website, YouTube, or Facebook
Link: www.milleroutdoortheatre.com/performance/moonstrike-produced-by-apollo-chamber-players/

Program:
Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate - MoonStrike (2019)
Erberk Eryılmaz - Folk Art: Was her face the moon or sunlight (2019)
Erberk Eryılmaz - Thracian Airs (2015)
Christopher Theofanidis & Mark Wingate - What is the Word? (2017)

About Apollo Chamber Players
Celebrating its 15th season, Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players "performs with rhythmic flair and virtuosity" (The Strad) and "recasts music for a diverse and multi-ethnic generation" (Strings Magazine). The ensemble's globally-inspired programming and multicultural new music commissions have garnered international acclaim, including sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall and in Havana, Cuba, a Chamber Music America Residency Partnership award, and regular features on American Public Media's Performance Today.

Released on the Grammy-winning Azica Records label, Apollo's fifth studio album, With Malice Toward None, reached No. 1 on Amazon's Hot New Release chart, and Strings Magazine praised the album's message, which tackles "politics, identity, and what it means to be a citizen of a nation balanced between an idealized past and a just and multicultural future." The ensemble's catalog of records has been featured on hundreds of radio and media stations worldwide.

A passionate advocate for contemporary music and underrepresented composers, Apollo successfully concluded a bold initiative to commission 20 new multicultural works by the end of the last decade. 20x2020 features a diverse roster of the world's leading composers and instrumentalists including Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Pamela Z, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Hector Del Curto, Vân Ánh Võ, and Tracy Silverman. The ensemble's community partners include schools and universities, at-risk youth centers, refugee and veterans service organizations, and public libraries.

Apollo was founded in 2008 by violinist and music entrepreneur Matthew J. Detrick. Learn more at www.apollochamberplayers.org.

Photo Credit: Ben Doyle

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